The College of Public & Community Service

For three decades, the College of Public & Community Service (CPCS) has offered a unique degree program for community activists seeking a way to incorporate their work, life experience and vision for a better urban environment into their education. The College's mission is to "educate students to foster the public good and aid the transformation to a more equitable society." CPCS endeavors to function as an inclusive, democratic and participatory learning community which promotes diversity, equality, and social justice.

The CPCS academic program revolves around interdisciplinary academic centers leading to a bachelor's degree. The academic centers reflect our unique competency-based education. Our curriculum and the strong sense that public and community service involves real experience and not just classroom instruction. This mission is also reflected in our admission program where we require prospective students to have had some real world life and work experience. CPCS Students, whose average age is 35 and whose formal education, in many cases, stopped at high school, are a diverse and culturally rich group sharing a commitment to public and community service.

The College is particularly appealing to working women and men who want to bring the same level of active involvement to their education as they bring to their community roles. Through course work, internships, and field-based projects, students pursue a hands-on course of study that is relevant to their interests, goals, and issues in their current jobs or volunteer work. The vast majority of students are engaged in field-based learning or are applying their own work to their studies.

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